That Negator blows me away! Pure win! I love that Russian chopper too! I know people who would kill for that beast!

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Iron Anvil
Iron Grenadier Paratrooper

Iron Anvil is a convention-exclusive figure from 2005, an Iron Grenadier trooper that was a repaint of the 1994 Viper. I have been doing paint upgrades of all of Destro's forces, and I do have an actual Iron Anvil, but I was loathe to take a brush to a convention exclusive, and so I did a full repaint of a v4 Viper instead. The painted detail on the convention is very good, adding much more detailing than the original Viper figure, and most are exactly what I would have done as well. As such I followed it very closely, while giving it some original elements as well.

All parts – Viper v4

Submachine gun – Marauder Inc.

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Royal Guard
Cobra-La Guardsman

When I was younger I never really had much time for Cobra-La. I was much more into the comic book as opposed to the cartoon, so Golobulus and his forces never really grabbed my attention. But ultimately I don't mind significant sci-fi elements in my GI Joe, and I've done a number of Cobra-La customs up to now, and the Royal Guard continues this trend. This one is just a paint upgrade, but one which required a fair bit of work. The original Royal Guard figure has a very large number of unpainted details on it, and just giving colour to each one gives the resulting custom quite a different look to the original.

All parts and accessories – Royal Guard (antenna is reproduction)

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Storm
Artillery Officer

This is a simple paint upgrade of a relatively obscure character. Major Storm was packed in with the General in 1990, and the character has never received a modern release. Made partly of reused parts, he had very basic paint applications – reddish brown on the head, and some burnt umber on the torso, arms, waist and legs. So I did a number of small touch-ups, painted the eyes and gave him some new accessories. Code names don't include ranks in them in my Joeverse, so he's just Storm. Otherwise, on his next promotion he'd be Lieutenant Colonel Storm.

All parts – Major Storm

Cap – Marauder Inc.
Submachine gun – unknown

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Very nice work.

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That CobraLa guardsman is exceptional! I absolutely love it!

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Hey thanks, I really like how it turned out. All the little extra details enhance the organic look they were going for, I think.

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Man that paint job really saves the Royal Guard sculpt. Love the eyes

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This x2. Looking great!

OB

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Alright, so I just binged going through the 13 pages of ARAH stuff you have here. I have been out of the vintage figures for years, and have only been collecting/customizing ME Joes since the 2007 re-launch, with the 25th Anniversary figures. That being said, I found myself going through the pages with wide-eyed wonder, looking forward to each custom you came up with/created! Great stuff, bro! And I may have to "borrow" some of your original characters, to recreate in ME format. Thanks for sharing all of this wonderful stuff.

-Todd
Shakka85

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Super Fang looks very nice!
Unfamiliar with that Soldier Force helicopter, but it sure does work here.

And thank you for looking! Vintage Joes still have a lot of life in them.

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Sokerk
Small Arms Armorer

Sokerk was an Argentinian exclusive, though he was not one of the famous “Argen 7” figures. Two version were released: one was a recolour of Grunt (and was essentially a version of “Tan Grunt”), and the other was a recolour of Rip Cord. So to make my version of Sokerk, I repainted Rip Cord's body and added Grunt's head with darker hair, to split the difference.

For those not familiar with the character, here's a translation of his filecard from the original Spanish:

“Sokerk is the Resolute Commandos expert in explosive ordnance and small arms. Able to arm or disarm any weapon precisely and as quick as lightining. But his favourite ordnance is the hand grenade which he can use in his favourite place: in the middle of the action. He has a hair trigger but incredible courage.”

Head – Grunt
Arms, torso, waist, legs – Rip Cord

Helmet – Mutt (accessory pack version)
Backpack – Viper (reproduction)
Machine gun – A-Team

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Big Iron
Bionic Commando

I had pieced the basics of this figure quite a while back, when I just starting to get into customizing Joes. It was just Sci-Fi's head on a Barricade body, which I thought produced a cyborg-looking figure. I started painting parts silver, but it just never really grabbed me and it went into the WIP pile with an uncertain future. Now with the Molotow Liquid Chrome pens available, I saw an opportunity to resurrect the project. The chrome ink gives the figure more of the look I was going for originally, I think. He's kind of a mashup of RoboCop, Robo-JOE and Super Trooper. Back in the day he would have been a mail-away exclusive. What kid doesn't want chromed figures? He could just as easily be a Captain Power figure, but I'm calling him a Joe.

File Name: Nathan, Spencer R.
Birthplace: Phoenix, AZ
Service Branch: Army
Grade: E-5 (SGT)
Primary MOS: Infantryman
Secondary MOS: Cryptologic Network Warfare Specialist

Head – Sci-Fi
Arms, torso, waist, legs - Barricade

Rifle – Red Spot

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Metal-Head
Iron Grenadier Anti-Armor Specialist

Destro and his Iron Grenadiers have a striking colour palette, made up of black and red and gold. I've done repainted versions of his associated and troopers to give them a more unified look using this colour scheme. Metal-Head didn't strictly need this treatment (at least in his original version) since he was already mostly black and red. But in for a penny, in for a pound, so here he is. I switched out his weapon system, since the original is a bit silly-looking. Now he just has a semi-automatic rocket launcher. In order to make use of the pegs on his back, I drilled some holes in a couple of grenades to fit on the figure.

All parts – Metal-Head

Pistol - Metal-Head
Rocket launcher – Grim Skull
Grenades – Chap Mei

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